Monday, September 28, 2009

Haven't posted in awhile, but this is something that I felt was important enough to bring me back from my hiatus. This is something that happened in Chicago. An honor student was beaten to death during a "gang" fight. Basically the students were fighting using only fists and wooden planks. This kid got hit while allegedly trying to help another student.

Honestly, watching the video almost made me cry for several reasons

-I thought of how most of what I saw on twitter after the release of this video dealt with mashonda and alicia keys, and this was true of even black people from Chicago...i think that people are just desensitized to violence in this city. I know that since I moved here, I am much less emotionally affected by the violence that plagues this city.

-A lot of the kids just watched the whole scene, and the one who tried to help, ended up dying. this is an obvious reason why so many people just stood by and watched

-the death of this man basically means that several more young black men's lives have ended. they will be thrown into the justice system for what was, in essence, a school fight gone horribly wrong. they were wrong, i'm not denying that they should have to take responsibility...but the justice system is going to turn these kids into hardened criminals..if they ever get out of prison, they will probably be even more of a burden on society because they will not be able to get jobs, and will have learned to lead a criminals life with the real murderers in prison

-chicago is worried about getting the olympics...it would be a great opportunity for those who stand to make money from them, but honestly, the event will not benefit the black people who inhabit the regions of the city that will be directly affected. They will wipe peoples neighborhoods out, and black businesses won't see a large amount of contracts, so the money will not come to our community. Chicago has much more to worry about, ie, the lives of the children, the education system, the poverty, the homelessness...obviously this list could go on forever

-the city decided to step up security at the high school where this occurred...obviously, this is a reactive approach...could nothing have been done prior to this. in a city where a large number of school age children are killed each year, you would think that the city would take a more proactive approach

that said, here's the video of the fight...it's kinda gruesome, so don't watch if you get squeamish